The present invention relates to an information management system, and, more particularly, an information management system for generating electronic presentations.
Commercial electronic presentation tools have been around for several years. Examples of these tools are Microsoft's PowerPoint and Software Graphics Corporation's Harvard Graphics. These existing electronic presentation tools simply replace the original slide projector and set of notes with the computer and its associated monitor. They have the advantage that once the presentation is created, it can be modified easily to be used again. However, the work required to generate the initial presentation is tedious and time consuming, and not unlike creating a presentation using slides and notes.
Standard presentation systems such as Microsoft's PowerPoint allow the user to select background onto which images and text are added. The presentation itself contains no intelligence other than the title and the subdirectory in which the presentation is stored. Therefore the user at a later date would have no means of determining the contents other than to select presentations whose titles and/or storage location might suggest contents of interest. No intelligence is stored with the individually created slides on which to query. Therefore, once a presentation has been selected whose title and/or location suggest it may have contents of interest to the user, the entire contents of the presentation must be manually examined by the user to determine if there are any slides of interest.
There are systems to catalog text and images in databases. Some systems place the image into the text database in a special field called a “blob.” Blobs are fields within a database in which binary data may be stored. The blob field is available in SQL databases. This system allows a user to search the text database for information defining the stored image in the blob field and upon a successful find, extract the image. Other systems use a standard text field to point to the location of the image file.
Other systems exist for organizing photographs in digital format. These systems simply mimic the common photo album by allowing the user to select borders, album layout, and add captions. These systems, however, do not catalog individual photographs to aid in later selection for purposes of creating a special presentation.
All of the above generic presentation systems have the disadvantage of an inability to preserve any intelligence associated with the information being inserted. As a result, there is no way to search past presentations for slides that may be applicable to a new presentation being developed.
Another disadvantage of the above generic presentation systems is their inability to catalog graphical slide information as it is being prepared. In the preparation of a slide, the graphics are many times a combination of one or more graphics or the modification of existing graphics. As graphical information is merely inserted into these generic presentation systems and not cataloged, there is no method to efficiently retrieve the graphical information later. Users simply must sort through numerous slides in an inefficient search for data. This inefficiency is further exacerbated when the presentations a user searches were not authored by that user, and thus the user is unfamiliar with the presentation content, and requires more time to search.
The present invention relates to the cataloging of images and text, thus providing each image with intelligence. A query can then be generated, allowing only the selection of those images of interest. The user can then select from this subset of presentation images for a new presentation. This presentation set of images with their respective data may then be used without modification as a multimedia presentation or modified to create a unique multimedia presentation of images with or without text descriptions. The collection of images may also be packaged for distribution to a third party for incorporation into a publication, or for importation into a third party presentation package.
Throughout this specification, the present invention will be described in connection with the cataloging of museum images and associated text, and generating presentations from this cataloged data. It is understood, however, that the apparatus and method of the present invention may be used with any type of product or subject matter, e.g., for creating and storing sales presentations for industrial products such as machine parts. Therefore, the example of museum subject matter is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.
According to the invention, the generation of presentations from large data sets is greatly simplified. Intelligent queries of existing databases as well as previously generated presentations allow the user to select a subset of slides from which to build a new presentation or modify an existing presentation.
Personnel at museums are required to give numerous presentations to various groups. These presentations may be educational, e.g., for the benefit of students, or may be institutional, e.g., for the benefit of a board to trustees. Still others are given to make the public aware of specific exhibits currently on display at the museum. And of course, many are given to potential contributors to solicit financial aid to support the museum, its functions, and to add to its collection.
Because of the wide range of audiences and lecture material, there is a constant requirement for new lectures which in turn require new presentations. Museum inventory or pieces are often contained in a collection card file. At the present time, when creating a new presentation, the user must first search the collection card file, select those items that might be useful in a presentation, find a slide of the item if available, and then manually develop a slide based presentation.
Even if the collection card file is in electronic format, the user must manually extract any pertinent data for insertion into the presentation. If the presentation is to be generated on one of the commercially available presentation packages referenced earlier, the text information from the card collection data must be formatted and typed into the system. Any related graphics must then be found as a file name on the system network and inserted into the appropriate screen area. Once the text and graphics data are inserted into the slide, all links to their origin are lost. As a consequence, should the user realize during the generation of a subsequent presentation that a previously developed slide in a previous presentation would be useful, there is no easy method of finding the original information related to the selected slide unless the user recognizes the source. This inefficiency is increased as the volume of card collection data increases, and as the number of stored presentations increases.
Additionally, a museum will often have non-collection data stored. This non-collection data may range from a picture of the location where the collection piece is stored, photographs and biographies of trustee members, pictures and data regarding special events such as fund raisers, etc. This non-collection data is not easily cataloged in a collection card file, and thus, should a user desire to include this data in a presentation, the user must search records that are often not linked or categorized in any meaningful manner. This unstructured search requires great time and effort.
In the system of the present invention, collection data and non-collection data, including graphics data and textual data, and the presentation data are all intelligently linked together. Collection data, although not exactly the same for each museum, is very similar. Collection data and software to electronically file this data is well defined and available from multiple sources. Cataloging museum pieces is less well defined but would include graphics data such as pictures of the piece, pictures of the piece location in the museum, and, perhaps, a picture of the author. In both of these existing systems, an accession number is a key index.
To effectively use these data sources, it is necessary to implement intelligent queries to enable a user to quickly locate objects of interest. Once an object of interest is located, the system of the present invention automatically inserts the object into the presentation that is being generated.
Therefore, in accordance with the invention, a method of cataloging and presenting electronic data is provided. The method includes the steps of storing text data in a first database; storing graphical data in a second database; searching the text data in the first database and the graphical data in the second database to generate a first subset of data; selecting from the subset of data presentation data; intelligently linking the presentation data to the first and second databases; and storing the presentation data in a third database.
Also in accordance with the invention, a further method includes the steps of storing cataloged data in a first database; searching the cataloged data in the first database to generate a subset of cataloged data; selecting from the subset of cataloged data presentation data; intelligently linking the presentation data with the first database; and storing the presentation data in a second database.
Further in accordance with the invention, a computer system for generating electronic presentations is provided. The system includes means for storing text data in a first database; means for storing graphical data in a second database; means for searching the text data in the first database and the graphical data in the second database to generate a first subset of data; means for selecting from the subset of data presentation data; means for intelligently linking the presentation data to the first and second databases; and means for storing the presentation data in a third database.
Also in accordance with the invention, a method for cataloging and presenting collection and non-collection data is provided. The method includes the steps of storing collection data in a collection database; storing presentation data in a presentation database; searching the collection data in the collection database and the presentation data in the presentation database to generate a subset of data; selecting from the subset of data presentation data; intelligently linking the presentation data to the collection database; and storing the presentation data in the presentation database.
Additional objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.